Wall Street recruiters have canceled or postponed visits to elite universities like Harvard, Princeton and Stanford, citing the turmoil in the markets.

“Jobs are being taken down by the day on our career services Web site,” said Kenton Murray, 20, a senior at Princeton, where J. P. Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank and others canceled recruitment sessions since the start of the semester....

Mr. Murray described the mood at Princeton as cautiously optimistic.

“No one I’ve talked to is worried about moving back home yet,” he said. “But everyone I know is studying for the LSATs right now, people who a month ago had no intention of ever going to law school.”